The decision A.J. Hammons made - or at least made known - Wednesday was the correct one.
A leave now for the NBA would have not been a wise one.
It was easy for many to say that in advance of Hammons' choice to by-pass the draft and return to Purdue for his third and what you have to figure will be his final season of college basketball, barring injury.
But none of us have ever had to make such a choice, possessing that winning lottery ticket and having to decide whether to accept a modest - yet still substantial - lump sum now or wait out what could be a lifetime of riches. Making the NBA is one thing; staying in it is entirely another. Your first contract is one thing; the goal is to get the second.
Wednesday, Hammons increased his chances to do all of the above.
He's not ready, on or off the court.
Does it matter? Not really. The NBA drafts on potential, with an infrastructure in place to refine raw materials. It's not a matter of who's the most ready as it is who's the least not ready.
Hammons, perhaps out of lack of a sensible alternative - the same reason, truth be told, that JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore played as seniors at Purdue - is betting on himself. He has to deliver now. He has to improve, or else this time a year from now he'll be second-round fodder again, but 24-year-old second-round fodder.
It bears repeating - and admittedly his team's lack of success is mostly to blame here - but Hammons wasn't even an all-conference player this season.
Next year, he'd better be.
Here's guessing he will make that leap.
Going through this process might turn out to be the best thing for him. He is more self aware, I think, than people may realize and understands where he is right now. But now he's heard NBA kingmakers actually say it.
This was enormous news for Purdue, but only the first chapter of the story to come.
What Hammons' return gives Purdue is a chance, more than anything.
At the end of the day, the Boilermakers are still what their 2013-14 record says they were, until they prove they're not. Hammons was part of that team, and the one before.
He will be asked to be the centerpiece of this team next year.
For him to handle that role to the point where Purdue wins games, he must make substantial strides. Otherwise, he's again the best pro prospect on a pedestrian team. The NBA likes size and strength and skill and stuff, but it likes all those things better when they lead to good, winning basketball. And one of the best ways for Hammons to increase his profile would be to help his team win, the way another low-motor-pegged player did at Purdue years ago: Carl Landry.
Check his bank account these days.
Draft positions are made in big games, whether in conference games or the NCAA Tournament. If Hammons can help get Purdue back to playing in important games or relevant postseason play, it will help him.
But he still has a ways to go. He has to be more consistent. He has to become a better defensive player, aside from blocking shots. He has to play harder and be more physical. He has to play, and produce, like the best player on the floor, which he has the potential to be on most nights. He has to play well enough to where people like me stop writing stuff like 'he has to ' or 'he has a chance to '
Hammons' return gives Purdue a chance. Had he left, you were looking at what would amount to a complete rebuild next season. He will give the Boilermakers a chance on most nights.
If he shows he's ready to be that sort of player.
We all know that Hammons, eventually, is a pro, have for years.
He has a chance this season to show, too, that he is a winner, a label that can be earned not only through actual victories but also actions.
Again, Hammons made the right choice this week, but also the only sensible one. A jump to the NBA now might have punched a ticket to Denmark or Uruguay or some other far-off place that might as well be Jupiter to persons of a certain age.
Or worse he could have been shipped off to Sioux Falls.
Next season's narrative will be Purdue's quest to return to relevance, to get its identity back, but also for Hammons to get where he's headed.
Purdue will help him, within the framework of the team's best interests at least.
Matt Painter means it, I can assure you, when he says he wants the center to have a "good life" more than he wants him to have a good career. He knows, as we all did, this was a powderkeg, the possibility being very real that that lottery ticket, figuratively speaking, could have gone uncashed.
Hammons has been given a gift in that gigantic body and the basketball skills and athleticism that have gone along with it.
Those gifts can provide him both that good career and that good life.
It's his for the taking.
And ultimately up to him.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2014. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
A leave now for the NBA would have not been a wise one.
It was easy for many to say that in advance of Hammons' choice to by-pass the draft and return to Purdue for his third and what you have to figure will be his final season of college basketball, barring injury.
But none of us have ever had to make such a choice, possessing that winning lottery ticket and having to decide whether to accept a modest - yet still substantial - lump sum now or wait out what could be a lifetime of riches. Making the NBA is one thing; staying in it is entirely another. Your first contract is one thing; the goal is to get the second.
Wednesday, Hammons increased his chances to do all of the above.
He's not ready, on or off the court.
Does it matter? Not really. The NBA drafts on potential, with an infrastructure in place to refine raw materials. It's not a matter of who's the most ready as it is who's the least not ready.
Hammons, perhaps out of lack of a sensible alternative - the same reason, truth be told, that JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore played as seniors at Purdue - is betting on himself. He has to deliver now. He has to improve, or else this time a year from now he'll be second-round fodder again, but 24-year-old second-round fodder.
It bears repeating - and admittedly his team's lack of success is mostly to blame here - but Hammons wasn't even an all-conference player this season.
Next year, he'd better be.
Here's guessing he will make that leap.
Going through this process might turn out to be the best thing for him. He is more self aware, I think, than people may realize and understands where he is right now. But now he's heard NBA kingmakers actually say it.
This was enormous news for Purdue, but only the first chapter of the story to come.
What Hammons' return gives Purdue is a chance, more than anything.
At the end of the day, the Boilermakers are still what their 2013-14 record says they were, until they prove they're not. Hammons was part of that team, and the one before.
He will be asked to be the centerpiece of this team next year.
For him to handle that role to the point where Purdue wins games, he must make substantial strides. Otherwise, he's again the best pro prospect on a pedestrian team. The NBA likes size and strength and skill and stuff, but it likes all those things better when they lead to good, winning basketball. And one of the best ways for Hammons to increase his profile would be to help his team win, the way another low-motor-pegged player did at Purdue years ago: Carl Landry.
Check his bank account these days.
Draft positions are made in big games, whether in conference games or the NCAA Tournament. If Hammons can help get Purdue back to playing in important games or relevant postseason play, it will help him.
But he still has a ways to go. He has to be more consistent. He has to become a better defensive player, aside from blocking shots. He has to play harder and be more physical. He has to play, and produce, like the best player on the floor, which he has the potential to be on most nights. He has to play well enough to where people like me stop writing stuff like 'he has to ' or 'he has a chance to '
Hammons' return gives Purdue a chance. Had he left, you were looking at what would amount to a complete rebuild next season. He will give the Boilermakers a chance on most nights.
If he shows he's ready to be that sort of player.
We all know that Hammons, eventually, is a pro, have for years.
He has a chance this season to show, too, that he is a winner, a label that can be earned not only through actual victories but also actions.
Again, Hammons made the right choice this week, but also the only sensible one. A jump to the NBA now might have punched a ticket to Denmark or Uruguay or some other far-off place that might as well be Jupiter to persons of a certain age.
Or worse he could have been shipped off to Sioux Falls.
Next season's narrative will be Purdue's quest to return to relevance, to get its identity back, but also for Hammons to get where he's headed.
Purdue will help him, within the framework of the team's best interests at least.
Matt Painter means it, I can assure you, when he says he wants the center to have a "good life" more than he wants him to have a good career. He knows, as we all did, this was a powderkeg, the possibility being very real that that lottery ticket, figuratively speaking, could have gone uncashed.
Hammons has been given a gift in that gigantic body and the basketball skills and athleticism that have gone along with it.
Those gifts can provide him both that good career and that good life.
It's his for the taking.
And ultimately up to him.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2014. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
